Halton Real Estate Market Recovering from February Low

It’s been six months since the Canadian real estate market hit a low back in February. However, things are looking up and the market has been recovering.

According to Zoocasa, although the market still lingers 10 per cent below its peak activity in 2016 and 2017 it has recovered by 15 per sent from its February low - as of July.

“Sales were up in 60 per cent of all local markets, with the majority of volume in the GVA and GTA and additional increases elsewhere in the BC Mainland, Calgary, Edmonton, Hamilton-Burlington, Ottawa, and Montreal,” Zoocasa says.

Zoocasa also notes that, due to an increase in annual sales and a drop in new supply, the market is currently close to the ‘sellers’ market’ point.

“Transactions rose for the fifth month in a row with a 12.6 per cent year-over-year increase, and up 3.5 per cent from June,” Zoocasa says. “The number of newly-listed homes brought to market stayed flat, however, down -0.4 per cent. That’s put upward pressure on the national average home price, which rose 3.9 per cent to $499,000; excluding the Greater Toronto and Greater Vancouver markets would reduce it to $393,000.”

In July, the country’s sales-to-new-listings ratio went to 59.8 per cent from 57.6 in June. And, according to Zoocasa, a ratio between 40 and 60 signals a balanced market, while a ratio bekow or above that indicates buyers’ and sellers’ conditions, respectively.

Although, when it comes to local levels Zoocasa says that three-quarters of all markets can be considered balanced.

In addition, Zoocasa also recently looked at price growth in July. In general, the overall value pf homes sale increased slightly as a result of a rise in two-storey single-family home prices (an increase of 0.3 per cent).

When it comes to Ontario, and Halton, specifically, Zoocasa says that prices are up in most areas. According to Zoocasa, prices rose by 6.9 per cent in Guelph, 5.9 in the Niagara Region, 5 per cent in the Hamilton-Burlington area, and also by 5 per cent in the Oakville-Milton area.

However, some areas did see declines.

“Sold prices in Toronto rose 4.4 per cent,” Zoocasa says. “The Barrie and District market was the only one to see a decline, down -1.3 per cent. The strongest price growth in the province continues to be in Ottawa, up 8.9 per cent.”